ELY – U.S. Forest Service crews used the Ely Airport for a helicopter training session last Friday as the trainees learned and refreshed their skills in working with rotary aircraft while fighting wildfires in the North Country.
Eric Holzem, USFS Helitack supervisor for District 9, including the Kawishiwi District, oversaw the training as eight students on the ground performed training drills in cargo transport via external load.
“The skills are needed for transport into and out of remote sites for fire suppression, or building projects in areas that are hard to reach any other way,” he said
Materials were lowered to the ground by tether from a helicopter hovering overhead. A crew from Brainerd Helicopter Services, Inc., under contract with the USFS, was on hand last week and participated in reconnaissance and water suppression duties at the Rock Island Lake fire near Lake Two in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness east of Ely.
Instead of delivering shovels, fire hoses, oxygen tanks and other necessary fire-fighting equipment, the helicopter crew used tires and other material to simulate the real-world experience.
“We want to give the crews on the ground a real-world scenario in which they experience the helicopter hovering just above them as they perform their duties,” Holzem said.
Each of the students took turns calling in the aircraft by radio and relayed prevailing wind and simulated clearance and fire conditions on the ground. Other students, with aid from mentors, practiced hooking and unhooking the equipment from the tethered bundle lowered by the air crew.
Holzem said Forest Service personnel and aircraft will likely be stationed at the Ely Airport USFS facility for most of the summer as drought conditions remain and the fire danger persists.